Thursday’s Matchup: Miami Dolphins at New England Patriots

There is no particular strategy that has proved successful against Tom Brady over the years. Beating him generally involves some sort of unexpected game-changing play that no opponents can honestly say they have planned for.

But in the first half of New England’s Week 5 victory over the Dallas Cowboys, the onslaught of the Dallas pass rush seemed to be enough to frustrate and contain Brady.

New England made halftime adjustments to slow the Dallas attack, but if the Cowboys’ offense had not been missing key players, the game could have ended up lopsided in the Cowboys’ favor.

Enter the Dolphins, who feature two of the game’s most devastating pass-rush specialists in Cameron Wake and Ndamukong Suh. Their pairing may have had a rough start, but over the last two weeks they have combined for eight sacks, and they could easily replicate the type of abuse that Dallas inflicted upon Brady.

The difference between the Dolphins and the Cowboys is that Miami has an offense capable of putting the ball in the end zone. Ryan Tannehill had a nearly flawless game last week, and Lamar Miller has been tremendous over his last two games.

The Patriots are undefeated for a reason, and a home game would be an odd time for them to suddenly falter. But Miami might have exactly the right players peaking at exactly the right time to hand New England its first loss of the season.

A version of this article appears in print on October 29, 2015, on Page F6 of the New York edition with the headline: Thursday’s Matchup: Dolphins (3-3) at Patriots (6-0). Order Reprints|Today's Paper|Subscribe